


R + E

by GayAvocad0



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Cute, Don't copy to another site, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, I have no idea how to tag I'm sorry, Kinda, Kissing, M/M, Mild Language, Minor Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Oblivious Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Sharing Clothes, morons to lovers, r+e
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:35:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22230427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayAvocad0/pseuds/GayAvocad0
Summary: He was looking at all the insults and love confessions that were written or carved on the boards when one particular writing caught his eye.R + EOr: Eddie finds out about Richie's carving but doesn't know who did it and he keeps coming back to it.(I don't know how to summarize it sorry! Also the title sucks but whatever)
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 157





	R + E

**Author's Note:**

> It's the first time I publish something and I apologize if it's bad.

When Eddie noticed the letters carved on the Kissing Bridge for the first time, he didn’t even think about coming back to see them. But here he was, sitting on the ground next to his bike, his back pressed to the uncomfortable wooden boards, his head turned a little so he could look at the only slightly faded R + E carved into the wood.

He had passed across it plenty of times, alone or even with the rest of the Losers, but he probably never saw it because of how fast they were always riding their bikes. But one day, about two weeks before he found himself sitting on the dirty ground of the Kissing Bridge, he had been walking home after going to the grocery shop for his mother. He was looking at all the insults and love confessions that were written or carved on the boards when one particular writing caught his eye.

_R + E_

Eddie had stopped walking to inspect the letters more closely. He had knelt in front of it and had gently brushed his trembling fingers against it. He had felt a pleasant warmth pool in his stomach along with the feeling of millions of butterflies. See, the thing is Eddie Kaspbrak is very much in love with one of his closest friends, the funny, hyperactive, dirty minded, with no clue of what personal space is, and extremely not interested in boys, Richie Tozier.

Remembering this fact brought him quickly back to Earth and made all the warmth and butterflies disappear, only to be replaced by a cold sensation and a sudden wave of anxious feelings. _This town is not that small. There are probably tons of couples that have R and E as their initials. And those couples probably include a girl and a boy._ He had bitterly reminded himself before heading to his house. And even though he hadn’t planned on coming back to this exact spot, he took one last glance at the letters, making sure to memorize its emplacement.

And now, he was staring at it again.

It had been a shitty day for him. It had been filled with bad grades, lots of people pushing him around in the hallways (even though he knew how to respond when someone was bothering him with words, he was still too tiny to properly defend himself when it came to physical assault, which made him really frustrated), and it was probably because he was on the edge but he had felt like Richie had made A LOT of comments and unpleasant jokes about girls and their supposed physical appeals. So, when the bell of Derry High had rung to signal the end of his day, he hadn’t felt like going to his house where his mother would be waiting for him. Nor had he been in the mood for going to Barrens with the Losers. He just wanted to be alone and pretend that everything was fine for a moment.

Not many people passed by and the ones who did, didn’t pay attention him, so Eddie wasn’t bothered by anyone.

He lightly touched the engraved letters and let out a sigh. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to daydream a little. In his mind, he saw Richie carving the R + E and then turning to him, giving him a stupidly bright smile, and taking his hand to lead him away. Away from what? Eddie doesn’t even know but where dream Riche and dream Eddie are going, is a place where no one gives a fuck if boys want to kiss other boys. Oh, and also, there, Richie actually likes him back. Eddie reopened his eyes before covering them with his hands and letting out a frustrated groan.

He angrily got up and mounted his bike. He rode his bike all over the town, trying to clear his messed up mind, for about an hour (taking a few breaks to take out his inhaler and calm his asthma) before arriving to his house, where, predictably, his mother was waiting for him and started to lecture him about how she didn’t like her little Eddie-bear hanging out in filthy places with people who would could have a bad influence on him (she was very much unaware of the horrible dangers he had had to face in the past). Usually, he would have told her that she couldn’t control his whole life and all that shit. He had been able to stand up to her since that day he confronted her about his whole fake sickness thing. But today, he felt exhausted and didn’t have the strength to explain to her all of the typical things he says when she gives him her worried speech about his activities outside of the house. He just hummed to whatever she was saying, ate the quickest he could and went to bed really early.

He dreamt about a certain curly-haired boy with bad sense of fashion and humor. They were both laughing at some dumb and bad joke Richie had made and between them, on the board they were leaning on, was the R + E inscription.

* * *

The next day, Eddie was in a pretty bad mood. While he was at his locker, angrily shoving the books he needed in his backpack, he felt an arm wrap around his throat and a hand much bigger than his own pinching his right cheek.

“Hey Spaghetti where were you yesterday? You know it’s not the same when your cute little face isn’t here to light up the room.”

Eddie tried to shove him off but since his body apparently always hated him and he was still pretty short, it had no effect on the taller boy. “Quit it asshole!” He settled on swatting Richie’s hand (that was still pinching his cheek) and elbowing him in the stomach. Richie let go of him while making an exaggerated and much too dramatic “ _oof_ ” noise and Eddie rolled his eyes. “And stop calling me stupid nicknames! You know I hate it!” He didn’t.

They were now facing each other. “No you don’t. Anyway, where were you yesterday?”

“My mom wanted me home early.” He hoped the lie wasn’t too obvious. How would he explain that he spent almost an hour daydreaming next to his and Richie’s initials to Richie himself?

“See, I think you’re lying Eds. Because apparently, Beverly saw you on your bike far from where you live long after we left the Barrens.” Richie raised one eyebrow and smirked as the other boy felt heat rising at his cheeks and the tip of his ears.

Eddie scoffed “What I was doing is none of your business anyway…” he muttered lowering his gaze to their shoes and praying any god he could think of and the Turtle that Richie would just drop it and leave him alone.

Suddenly, Richie gasped loudly. Eddie snapped his head back up to look at the other’s teen face only to find an even larger smirk than before. Which obviously meant that whatever would come out of Richie’s mouth, Eddie wouldn’t be very pleased with it. “Oh my god! Was my little Eddie Spaghetti seeing a girl? I can’t believe our pure and innocent Eddie is not a virgin anymore.”

“Beep beep Trashmouth.” Eddie sighed and punched Richie’s shoulder (which probably didn’t have much effect), exasperated by his friend’s behavior. The bell rung and since they had their first class together (along with Bill), they started walking alongside each other to their classroom.

“Aw c’mon Eds! I wanna know if you betrayed me and my undying love for you!” Richie put his right hand on his heart and took an obviously fake hurt expression. He started talking again when Bill joined them right before they entered the room. “At least Big Bill here still loves me dearly. Right Billy?”

“O-obviously I duh-don’t.” Bill said flatly before greeting Eddie and the latter offered him a small smile.

Richie scoffed as loud and obnoxiously as possible. “As painful as your words are Bill, they’re not important right now. Because what’s important is that while where all together at the Barrens yesterday, Eddie was getting lai-”

“ _Shut up Richie!!!_ ” Eddie screamed in a high-pitched voice because of the sudden embarrassment. He could feel his face burning at the false statement. He kept hitting Richie at whatever part of his body he could reach. Richie was nearly choking with laughter at Eddie’s current attempts to hit him and at his expression of what could be identified as a mix between anger and embarrassment.

“Just i-ignore him Ed-Eddie.” Bill sat far enough from the front row and the other two followed him.

Eddie crossed his arms and sat to Bill’s right. Richie finally calmed down and set his backpack on the chair of the seat in front of Bill. Eddie looked at him as he paced through the classroom (he knew that Richie didn’t like to sit until he absolutely had to). Richie went to him, kneeling in front of his desk and resting his elbows on it, looking at him right in the eyes. Feeling the warmth that was almost gone from his cheeks coming back, Eddie turned his face to his right, away from the other, and pretended to be sulking. He heard Richie chuckling.

“ _Cute, cute, cute!_ ” Richie was pinching his left cheek. Again.

“Stop it you asshole!” Eddie spat out with no real heat in his voice, while trying to swat Richie’s hand away. Even though he was smiling, Eddie thought for a few seconds that he saw worry in Richie’s eyes. But it was gone right when he started talking again.

“Oh, Eddie my love such sweet words coming from such a sweet mouth. You’re gonna make me have an attack because of all this kindness” Richie was now just poking his cheek which was nonetheless annoying but Eddie decided that it wasn’t worth the trouble to try to make Richie stop.

“Ha. Ha. Ha. You are _so_ funny Trashmouth.”

“You bet your fur I am!” Richie said ignoring Eddie’s sarcastic tone. “And you guys all love me for that. Especially you Eds and I know it.” He winked at him and it took all Eddie’s willpower to keep a straight face ( _HA!_ ) but he was apparently failing because Richie’s smile got even wider than it already was. He always was happier when he got reactions from the others. “Ah! But what am I saying! You love all of me Eddie my love.” And with that, he got up to walk around the room started singing. It was really bad and very much off key. “ _Eddie my lo-ove I love you so-o-o-o-o, Eddie my lo-ove I love you so-o-o-o-o, Eddie my love I love you so, How I’ve waited for you-_ ”

“Thank you for this wonderful performance and we’re all very sad to put an end to it so quickly but the class is about to start.” Their English teacher said, an amused smile on his face. Eddie and Bill were laughing their asses off along with some other students and Richie didn’t seem ashamed at all. Almost proud even. “Now I suggest you go take your seat.”

“Right-o sir!”

Finally, Richie settled down and took out his messy binder full of torn and crumpled paper. Eddie rested his head on his left hand and stared at the back of Richie’s head, still smiling. Something Richie must have felt because he turned around to look at Eddie back. He made a funny face at Eddie (tongue stuck out and both eyes directed toward his nose) who quickly put his hands against his mouth to prevent himself from laughing out loud at his friend’s stupid face. _Stupidly cute face_ his mind told him. He didn’t even try to push that thought away as Richie gave him a satisfied smile after seeing Eddie’s reaction and turning back toward the teacher.

Eddie wasn’t very focused during his English class and spent most of it dreamily scribbling _R + E_ on whatever piece of paper he could find available.

He was in a much better mood than when the day started and it lasted the whole day.

-

This time, he went to the Barrens with the others. It wasn’t summer yet but the nice and warm weather was giving them the impression it already was. The Losers were talking excitedly at what they could do, while all laying down on the ground, enjoying the sun’s warmth and the light breeze.

“We should definitely go to the quarry this week-end.” Beverly said.

“Yeah but we should get ice cream before going.” Ben added.

Eddie saw Beverly turn her head slightly to face Ben in the corner of his eye. She smiled softly at him and Ben blushed. They kept staring at each other. Eddie suddenly started wondering if he was being as obvious as his two friends. The idea of his friends (especially Richie) finding out was really frightening. But his train of anxious thoughts was interrupted by Richie just when his breathing was starting to get ragged.

“So, did you guys already fuck or…”

The groups exploded into a chorus of groans, outraged gasps (from Bev and Ben), “beep beep Richie”s and mad laughter from Richie.

They all started bickering about it before the discussion went to various other subjects. Eddie had stopped feeling anxious. This scenery was familiar and he was pleased about it.

After Mike said he had to go, they all went home one by one until it was only Eddie, Stan and Richie. They rode they bikes together until Stan took a different turn than them to go home. They said goodbye to him and continued.

Richie was oddly quiet after Stan left them. And when he didn’t take a different street and kept going with Eddie, the shorter boy didn’t make any comments. That would happen sometimes. Richie would ride with Eddie to his house but usually it was because they were in the middle of a conversation and weren’t done with it.

They arrived at Eddie’s house and when he opened his mouth to say goodbye to Richie, the other teen spoke in an uncharacteristic nervous and low voice.

“You’d tell me if you were seeing a girl, right?”

Eddie wasn’t expecting that and was taken aback. “Uh what?”

“If you had a girlfriend, you would tell me and the Losers, no?” Richie blushing madly now and was obviously embarrassed to ask this. Eddie had only seen Richie looking embarrassed or shy a few times but he definitely enjoyed it.

“I heard you the first time I just don’t see why you would ask this out the blue. It’s just weird.” Eddie chuckled. He kind of wanted to see more of this version of Richie. But he saw Richie flinch slightly at that last word and before he could really think about it, the other started speaking again.

“Oh you know what? Forget it Eds. See ya tomorrow.” Richie turned around and quickly blushing even more than he already was and disappeared before Eddie even processed that his words might have embarrassed his friend too much.

“Wait-” Eddie tried to call him back, but he was already too far to hear him.

Eddie spent the whole evening worrying about his interaction with Richie. _What if I said something that hurt him without realizing it? He does that often with people so maybe I did too…_ Anxious thoughts similar to this one kept entering his mind and he had to wait for his mother to turn her attention away from him so that he could take a puff out of his inhaler. He didn’t like her to know that she still had some sort of power over him.

He went to bed, nervous feeling still nagging him, and tried to convince himself that everything would be forgotten on the next day.

-

When he stepped into Derry High, he immediately saw Richie and went to him. He lightly shoved and greeted him, waiting for a normal reaction from Richie and hoping their little encounter of the previous day would be long gone in Richie’s memory. But apparently, Life hated Eddie because all Richie did was looking at his shorter friend nervously and almost scared and awkwardly saying that he had to get to his first period early to speak to his teacher.

They had English together after their first period. Eddie wrote a little note that read:

_I would tell you, Richie_

_P.S: It wasn’t weird to ask, I was just teasing :)_

And somehow, it felt like the right thing to say. They never really got serious when they talk because they both despised serious talks, but if it could save his friendship with Richie, Eddie was willing to do everything, really.

He managed to put it on Richie’s usual desk before either him or the teacher arrived.

When Richie read the note, Eddie saw him smile softly at it and turn his face around to offer the same smile to its author. They all rarely got to see this smile on Richie’s face. It was always either a smirk or a proud grin after some of his jokes, but rarely that small and sweet smile he was giving Eddie at the moment. That sent a bunch of butterflies in the small teen’s stomach.

Richie sat down and seemed to consider what to do with the note, before quickly stuffing it in his pencil case.

After that class, things went back to normal. Richie started to pinch his cheek again and ask him if he “had any good chucks since yesterday?”.

Eddie was relieved and kept on scribbling little _R + E_ s during his most boring classes of the day.

-

“ _-you asshole don’t you dare do that ohmy - let me go dipshit- noooooooooooooo-_ ”

This was followed by a high-pitched squeal, an enormous splash sound and the obnoxiously loud laughter of Richie.

They decided to go to the Quarry on a Friday after school and this excursion would be followed by a sleepover at Bill’s house so some of them had already their duffel bags with their stuff with them (far enough from the water so it wouldn’t get wet “by accident”).

And apparently, Richie had a lot of energy to spare. Since they arrived, he had managed to make all the Losers choke on water at least once, scared them by bursting out of the water behind their backs and spent thirty minutes trying to convince Stan to join him in a “fart in the water and see who makes the biggest bubbles” contest before the latter pushed him in exasperation. Then, they had decided to get dressed and start heading back to their houses for those who didn’t bring their stuff, and to Bill’s house for the others.

But that was before Richie had the marvelous idea to wrap his arms around Eddie’s waist from behind and lift him off the ground. It made Eddie’s stomach churn and warmth filled his entire body. Only for a second. Because right after that, Richie started to go back towards the water and Eddie understood. He tried to make the taller boy drop him and shouted at him to just put him down, but Richie was just cackling and clearly wasn’t going to miss this opportunity.

So there he was, dripping wet stomping back towards his friends. Richie was on the ground snorting, clutching his stomach and almost crying because of how much he was laughing. Bev wasn’t far from his state too, she had just more self-control. Stan was giving Richie a disapproving look, but Eddie saw the corner of his lips twitch. The other three were smiling and got to Eddie first to ask him if he was ok.

Seeing Richie like that made Eddie want to smile too but the coldness and the uncomfortable feeling of his clothes sticking to his body prevented that from happening.

When he was right above Richie (who was thrown into another fit of laughter when he saw Eddie’s face after he came out of the water, and still rolling around on the ground), he took off his shirt and twisted it so all the water dropped on Richie’s face.

This seemed to calm him down. He sat up and looked at Eddie’s scrunched up, angry face and turned around to laugh again.

“ _Stop laughing asshole!_ ” Eddie took his crumpled shirt to hit Richie but that did nothing to quiet him down and now their other friends were all laughing.

Richie rolled back toward Eddie (trying to avoid Eddie’s beating) and kneeled in front of him to hug his legs. “Doan hit me mawster Eds! - owowow - I will be nice doan hit me please!” He had trouble getting out the sentences because of he was still shrieking with laughter and Eddie couldn’t even recognized which one of his characters Richie was trying to act as. At last they all calmed down and Richie looked up to Eddie to smile at him. “I’m sorry Eds.” But he didn’t sound or look sorry at all.

After all the action and noise died down, Eddie realized just how close Richie’s face was to his crotch, and before his 16 years old hormonal body could betray him, he pushed Richie away but was careful not to be to harsh. “Don’t call me Eds and give me your spare clothes, I still have to go to my house to collect my stuff and it’s slowly getting colder so I don’t feel like riding all the way there in wet clothes.” He was probably pouting and looking childish, but he didn’t care.

“Anything for my little Eds.” Richie winked at him and scrambled off the ground to get to his duffel bag. He picked up a white T-shirt with what he assumed was a small bologna stain on the hem of it, a definitely too large (well too large for Eddie at least) faded pink Hawaiian shirt, and black shorts that would surely cover Eddie’s thighs entirely. He sighed but took them anyway.

Once he was dressed in those way-too-large-for-him clothes, they went different ways. Eddie and Ben rode to their house and Richie went with Eddie as always, while the other headed at Bill’s.

-

They were only half-way through their second movie when the first member of the Losers fell asleep. It was Stan, he was on the armchair, and it wasn’t very surprising because he was the one who had argued the most with Richie at the quarry, and Eddie could confirm that arguing with Richie was exhausting.

“Aw look at him. Isn’t he cute like that? Wouldn’t it be too bad if Stan The Man woke up with a huge dick drawn on his forehead?”

Beverly was already getting up from her spot on the floor to go look for a pen. Richie was quietly snickering while the others whisper-yelled at him and Bev not to do it. Eddie had felt a little sleepy but after Richie’s suggestion, he was making sure to stay wide awake.

It took a lot of negotiations, threats and pen-stealing attempts, but they had come to an agreement. Both Richie and Bev had the right to draw _one_ thing on Stan’s face and dirty drawings were off-limits. Of course, that rule didn’t stop Richie from drawing half a dick on Stan’s cheek before Bill stopped him and almost woke up the sleeping teen. Bev and Eddie let out a stifled laugh and the other rolled their eyes, smiling.

At the end of the second movie, they took blankets and pillows so that the ones who’d feel tired (or “pussies” like Richie had nicely referred to them as) wouldn’t have to get up.

Stan was still sleeping in the armchair, Bill was sitting on the floor, his back pressed up against Stan’s legs, Beverly was in the same position but instead, she was leaning on Ben’s legs, who was on the couch, along with Mike, Richie and Eddie.

Eddie felt an arm wrap around his shoulders and pull him closer to the warm body next to him. Eddie silently prayed that the light from the TV wasn’t bright enough for Richie so see his blush. The heat he felt on his cheeks worsened when he felt more than heard Richie whispering to his ear. “Look at Ben he’s having an attack.”

 _I kind of am too_ Eddie thought but he just looked pas Richie to see Bev’s head (she had fallen asleep) on Ben’s lap and the boy looked really stiff and did seem close to having an attack. Eddie chuckled “They’re cute.” he leaned back on the couch’s backrest, until he realized that Richie’s arm was still around him. Before his friend could withdraw his arm from him, he let his head fall on Richie’s shoulder and snuggled up to his side.

Eddie knew that Richie wouldn’t freak out about that because it was a common thing for the Losers to be touchy with each other. And if you asked anyone in the club, they would probably tell you that it’s Richie and Eddie who are the most affectionate towards each other.

Obviously, that thought didn’t make Eddie freak out less. In the two seconds during which Richie felt rigid against him, he yelled at himself in his mind, considered running out of the house even though he was very comfortable and wanted to reach for his inhaler and swallow it entirely.

Finally, Richie tightened his grip on the smaller teen and put his head on top of his. All the knots that had formed in Eddie’s stomach suddenly disappeared and he let out an embarrassing content sigh and burrowed himself deeper in Richie’s side. Richie didn’t notice or didn’t care but he didn’t make any comments. Instead, he pulled Eddie closer.

The last thing Eddie heard was Richie mumbling softly something he couldn’t make out. He also felt Richie nuzzling his hair but doesn’t have the time to think too much about it before his tiredness wins him over.

* * *

At this point, Eddie didn’t even feel guilty anymore to go to the Kissing Bridge and daydream a little next to his new favorite inscription. Almost every day, after hanging out with the others, he took his bike to ride to the bridge and sat down in front of or next to it and just looked at it. It had become a habit.

Once, he even gathered the courage to pick a pointy rock up and carve something on the other board of the fence, almost right below the R + E. It simply was a R inside of a heart. He figured it wouldn’t be too obvious, there were probably hundreds of people whose name start with an R. But only Eddie would know who this carving really is for. He still preferred the R + E one though.

This exact spot of the bridge felt now like a second home to him (his first being wherever the Losers Club is). He felt safe and soothed next to those writings, as if nothing else really mattered and as if everything was perfect. He could forget about the hard, ugly reality of his life, and that was honestly really relaxing if you asked Eddie.

So Eddie considered his life to be almost perfect. Almost due to the fact that Richie was still very much into girls, and girls exclusively, but if Eddie could keep him and their touchy friendship, even if there are no romantic feelings on Richie’s side, he could easily live with that.

Eddie was even surprised he never got caught by one of the Losers or even Richie himself. It was almost too easy.

Eddie regretted thinking that on a sunny afternoon of July.

It was a Saturday and most of the Losers had plans so they all decided to do their separate things. Eddie’s thing was to sit against the wooden fence and enjoy the nice weather. The thing is, Richie’s thing was apparently to mount his bike, and to go around all Derry. Oh, and also, this little ride seemed to include crossing the Kissing Bridge.

He first heard a indistinct humming, but that didn’t alarm him because some people he didn’t know already saw him there but just didn’t care. He didn’t even turn his head around or open his eyes anymore. But this day, he should have checked who it was before he heard the person slowing down as they approached him.

Eddie opened just one eye and suddenly felt his throat close up and his mouth became really dry.

“Hey Eds what are you-” Richie’s joyous exclamation died halfway in his throat as his eyes shifted to Eddie’s right, where the carving was. Richie’s face turned extremely pale and he looked as if he stopped breathing. Meanwhile, Eddie tried to keep a neutral expression, maybe he could just say he didn’t even notice the inscription among the dozens of others that were on the same board. Maybe he could convince Richie that the Kissing Bridge was actually a really good place to hang out (which it clearly wasn’t since it was a bridge). But judging by Richie’s wide eyes and nauseated look he had on his face at the very moment, Eddie thought he’d have to be a _really_ good actor. “Oh.” Richie simply said.

That simple syllable caused Eddie’s asthma to act up again for the first time in almost a month. _What if Richie understood just by looking at the inscription?_ And obviously, he didn’t take his inhaler anymore. He heard a small “ _shit_ ” before seeing Richie getting off his bike and pulling out an inhaler out of the pocket of his hideous cargo shorts. If Eddie wasn’t struggling to survive, the fact that Richie still carried a spare, useless, inhaler for him would have made him blush madly. Richie offered him the inhaler. After he took a breath out it and wheezed out a small “thanks” and fiddled with the inhaler as Richie sat next to him, far enough so that the letters on the fence weren’t covered by his back.

They didn’t say anything for at least five minutes. The silence was only troubled by the noise of Eddie using the inhaler.

Richie sighed. “Look Eds I’m so sorry you weren’t supposed to find out about this. It’s not fair to you I’m sorry… Don’t be mad please I can scratch it if you want!” He started searching in his pockets, while Eddie tried to process the meaning of what he said. “Shit I don’t have it right now. Don’t worry I… I can find a pointy rock.” Richie looked around and picked up a sharp looking rock. Eddie was still not reacting.

But when Richie’s hand neared the inscription with his rock, he grabbed his wrist and made him drop the rock. “Nononono please don’t!” Richie looked at him incredulously. “I just- I mean- Did you- No, most importantly, when?!” Eddie left his hand on Richie’s wrist and looked at his face. He seemed to be waiting for Eddie to say something else more coherent, but Eddie just furrowed his brows and waited too.

“I… am sorry but I did not understand a single part of what you said.” A nervous smile was now on Richie’s lips. Eddie took a few seconds to prepare his questions in his mind and took a deep breath.

“ _You_ wrote this?” He didn’t mean for it to sound accusatory, but Richie still flinched and removed his wrist from Eddie’s light grip.

“I-” He stopped and sighed. “Yes. I did.”

“Ok” Eddie couldn’t believe it. But before he could let happiness flood his entire being, he had to make sure of a few last thing. “And the R stands for Richie?”

“Yes.”

“And the E stands of Eddie?”

Richie didn’t answer right away. He lowered his eyes and whispered a small “yes”. Eddie wasn’t used to see his friend looking so sad and timid. He wasn’t even sure he ever saw him like that. What he _was_ sure of, was that he didn’t like this version of Richie.

“And it isn’t one of your stupid jokes you make to annoy me?”

Richie looked downright hurt. “What? No!”

“Just making sure.” It was all Eddie said before quickly kissing Richie. He was going for his lips, but his inexperience was stronger than his will, and his lips landed above Richie’s.

He felt his cheeks heat up at his mistake and he closed his eyes as he let his face fall into the palm of his hands in embarrassment. He heard muffled laughter until Richie burst out and started giggling uncontrollably.

“ _Stop laughing asshole! At least I had the guts to try something!_ ” Eddie yelled but there was no real anger nor heat in his words. He was mostly happy at the moment, so the slight humiliation wasn’t bothering him that much. He had raised his head from his hands to look at the boy next to him. And also to hit him in the shoulder.

Richie stopped laughing and looked back at Eddie (whose cheeks still felt really hot but he decided to blame it on the summer heat) and smiled widely. He looked so genuinely happy and Eddie wanted to see this expression more often. They were still looking in each other’s eyes and Eddie got the impression that Richie was getting slowly closer.

Until it wasn’t just an impression anymore and Richie’s lips were almost touching Eddie’s. His gaze had dropped to the taller boy’s lips and when his eyes met Richie’s again, he saw that the latter was expectantly looking at him as if asking for permission. Eddie slightly nodded but was careful not to break their intimate moment.

And suddenly their lips were pressed clumsily together. They both didn’t know what to do with their hands, the angle was very awkward, and Richie’s thick glasses were pressed against Eddie’s cheek which was pretty uncomfortable. Eddie figured Richie had as much experience as him no matter what he would tell the Losers. But no matter how much they lacked skills in this, to Eddie, it was the best thing to ever happen to him.

After a few seconds of immobility, Eddie felt bold enough to tentatively move his lips like he saw the people do on TV. Richie responded and they both relaxed. They still had their hands either on the ground or on their lap but the feeling of Richie’s lips moving in sync with his own erased all trace of awkwardness in Eddie’s mind.

They pulled away after what felt like both a lifetime and a few milliseconds. Both boys were breathing heavily through their mouths and Eddie’s heart was beating hard and fast.

“Wow if I’d knew you’d react that way I would have written it on my forehead years ago.”

Eddie chuckled and shoved him playfully. “When did you carve it?”

“Uh… It was before the sewers, so I guess… 3 years ago? But I was aware that I wanted to shove my tongue down your throat months before that.”

“Ew that’s gross!” Eddie said. They were both giggling because of how happy they felt.

“When did you find it?”

“I don’t know. Like 2 months ago? Maybe a month and a half. But I’ve been coming here almost every day.” Eddie didn’t even feel ashamed to admit it.

Richie didn’t answer. He just smiled more. They changed the topic of discussion to what movie they should watch during their next sleepover at Bill’s. You could almost think that nothing had changed between them. They had their usual discussion with their usual dynamics but they both felt something was different. Their intertwined fingers were a first but there was also the link that united them. It felt stronger and deeper.

Eddie rode double with Richie, wrapping his arms tightly around Richie’s middle and pressing his cheek on his back. It felt so right as if they were puzzle pieces fitting perfectly with one another.

Richie asked Eddie if he wanted to sleep over to his house. Eddie hesitated because of his mom but remembered he promised himself not to let her have any abusive control over him anymore, so he agreed to spend the night at the Toziers’.

After arguing, kissing and then arguing some more, they finally went to bed. Eddie abandoned the sleeping bag that Maggie had set on Richie’s bedroom floor earlier, to go snuggle up with Richie in his bed.

He saw the carving in his dream for the hundredth time at least, but this time, when he woke up, he didn’t feel that tightness in his chest that was always there after those dreams. Instead, he looked at Richie’s sleeping face and felt warm and content.

He buried his head back into Richie’s chest and let himself enjoy this very moment of pure happiness.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it even if it's my first time writing Richie and Eddie so I hope I did well enough. Also, as you could probably tell, english is not my first language so if there are any typos I apologize.  
> If you have any advice or constructive criticism, please leave a comment I'd be very happy to read it.


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